Joan Nakimuli (left) and Stellah Babirye at the Katwe chess academy in Kampala – the centre also provides them with a place to sleep as they are homeless. All photographs by Alon Mwesigwa

Sisters Stellah Babirye and Joan Nakimuli sit either side of a chessboard on a wooden bench at their home in Katwe, one of the largest slums in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

Babirye, 16, wants to be a politician; Nakimuli, 18, a lawyer. They gaze at the chessboard intently. Nakimuli moves her king – but it’s a wrong move. Babirye captures her sister’s piece and both burst into laughter. “I told you a politician is a bigger than a lawyer,” Babirye says.

The sisters learned to play chess at Katwe chess academy, one of five centres around Kampala that teach the game to young people.

Uganda’s thriving chess scene is the focus of a new Disney film about Phiona Mutesi, a girl from the slums who went on to become perhaps the country’s top female chess player, nicknamed the Queen of Katwe. The film opens in the US this month and in Uganda in October.

Chess queen of Africa

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Mutesi learned and played her first game at the Katwe chess academy, having wandered into the centre at the age of nine, following her brother in search of a meal. She was fascinated by the beauty of the chess pieces, and by the concentration on the children’s faces as they played. That initial encounter led her to become entranced with the game, and she went on to become the women’s junior champion of Uganda three times. In 2012, at the 40th chess Olympiad, Mutesi was named Woman Candidate Master, one of the country’s first female players to win such a title.

With money earned from championships, Mutesi has moved her family out of the slums and into a new home, leaving behind the unmarked two-roomed building on a dirt road where she learned her skills.

At the academy, the chessboards are balanced on wobbly wooden benches and everyone observes the unwritten rule that if someone loses a game, they give way to another player. The centre is supported by a US-based charity, Sports Outreach Ministry. Most of the children who play chess at its centres are unable to pay for their education, so the organisation sends them to formal schools.

Katende, an engineer by training, played chess as a student, and thought that it would be a great way to keep young people engaged. He found a place in Katwe where the children could meet daily to play, and started up the academy. It began with five children, but the number has since swelled to more than 300. Aged between five and 23, the chess players gather daily across five separate slum locations around the capital.

The academy opens in the afternoon and any young person can drop in for a game. Katende hires experienced chess players to teach, alongside older boys and girls from the academy who also provide coaching.

Chess helps young people to focus on decision-making, says Katende. “A bad move in chess means you will lose. That is the same with life. You must think through your options before you make a move. Chess stimulates the mind; we have kids who are very good at mathematics and it may be because of chess.”

Many schools across Uganda are embracing the game, he says. “I organised seminars last year to find certified instructors.”

A bad move in chess means you will lose. That is the same in life and you must think through your options before a move

Robert Katende, Karwe chess academy

Children at the academy are taught to be humble, respect others and work hard, says Katende, adding that the children are expected to attend church on Sundays because it “does a lot to impart [good] social morals among the children”.

For many children, chess has become a means of survival. At least 61 students – in primary and secondary education as well as at university – are receiving support from the academy in the form of tuition, books and other school needs. The academy also provides lunch for those who come to play and a place to sleep for those with nowhere to live. Their lot contrasts markedly with that of other children in the slum, many of whom see education as a luxury and drop out of primary school.

“Chess is like a connection,” says Mutesi’s brother, Brian Mugabi, who is in the final year of a diploma in electrical engineering. “You play, get tuition and food. Once you have completed school, the world is open for you.

“I lived in a house where whenever it rained, water would flood our house. At chess, we sleep in the house where water does not flood our bed.”

Richard Kato, 17, has been playing chess for nine years now. “At first, we were playing soccer, but those who played chess got food as well, they were disciplined and went to school. I started playing; now I go to school.”

Together with their mother, Babirye and Nakimuli are among those who sleep at the academy, which also pays their tuition and helps with other education costs. Babirye is now in the second year of a nearby secondary school, while Nakimuli is in the year above.

Both realise they are lucky. About 10 years ago, they watched their older sister’s dreams fade away when she was married off at 15. Roughly 46% of girls marry (pdf) before the legal age of 18 in Uganda.

“Children of my age have two children or more,” says Nakimuli. “I look forward to building a house for my mother when I finish school,” she says.